Putin in Greece to talk trade and energy

[rooster59]

Putin in Greece to talk trade and energy



Russian President Vladimir Putin received full military honours and a warm welcome at Athens airport for his first visit to Greece in nine years.

It comes ahead of an important vote on EU sanctions which are due to expire in July. Greece and Hungary have already raised criticisms of the sanctions imposed over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

The sanctions hit banking, defence and energy sectors.

At a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Friday (May 27), Putin said Russian tourist numbers to Greece could jump threefold with improved visa arrangements.

Putin also reiterated his position on Crimea.

“As for Crimea – that question we consider to be closed completely. It was a historical decision made by the people living in Crimea,” said Putin. “And Russia will not hold any discussions on this question with anyone.”

Putin made clear in an article published in Kathimerini on Thursday (May 26)that he was interested in tenders for Greek rail as well as the port of Thessaloniki. He also remarked that the EU sanctions were hurting Greece’s agricultural sector.

According to Greek officials a deal between Russian oil giant Rosneft and Greek refiner Hellenic Petroleum might be signed as well as proposals for a southern gas pipeline through Greece.

On Saturday, Putin will take part in a special reception at Mount Athos in northern Greece, also known as the Holy Mountain. It is home to many monasteries and religious sites for Orthodox Christians. It will be part of celebrations commemorating the 1,000th anniversary of the Russian presence at the holy site.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-05-29

[happy Joe]

Brexit immediately would cause bridges between the European Union and Russia.

If fortunately Trump were to be elected, rejection USA would quickly become majority in the hearts of Europeans.

That is why our new friend Putin will multiply friendly messages.

Unfortunately I think that English people will be impressed by the threats of the establishment and will vote to stay in UE. As for US it is also reasonable to assume that late due to start will lead to a rejection of Trump.

[Class C]

The only revolution that needs to occur is the revolution in the minds of the people. And in todays world this can now happen faster than ever before. Make sure you are not on the wrong side of the Holy Mountain.

[smedly]

Putin picked the weakest link and is exploiting it butting his nose in where it is niether wanted or appropriate, just another step towards the brink - a mad dog in the making for sure, he needs his wings clipped and it just might happen very soon unfortunately

Edited May 29, 2016 by smedly

[coma]

EU sanctions not being in every member's best interests, is just another example of how the EU is flawed. The rich EU countries get richer and the poor get poorer.

[chilli42]

Putin picked the weakest link and is exploiting it butting his nose in where it is niether wanted or appropriate, just another step towards the brink - a mad dog in the making for sure, he needs his wings clipped and it just might happen very soon unfortunately

By whom and by what means?

[Srikcir]

This meeting reminds me of another Putin meeting.

Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Yanukovych signed a joint action plan on December 17, 2013. That plan consisted of the Russian National Wealth Fund buying $15 billion of Ukrainian Eurobonds and the lowering of the cost of Russian natural gas supplied to Ukraine by almost 200%.

That didn't turn out so well for the Ukraine.

[Kiwiken]

Putin picked the weakest link and is exploiting it butting his nose in where it is niether wanted or appropriate, just another step towards the brink - a mad dog in the making for sure, he needs his wings clipped and it just might happen very soon unfortunately

By whom and by what means?

And clip his wings for what? It is not the cold war. Red vs blue was revealed for what it was just and excuse to expand the Military industrial complexes and the wealth of the rich. Greece invited him. And others will in time too. Not everyone has a red neck view of the World. People have been beating the evil Russia Drum since the 1880,s be it Tsarist, Communist or new Nationalist Russia. Get over yourselves and take a chill pill.

[sotsira]

Putin picked the weakest link and is exploiting it butting his nose in where it is niether wanted or appropriate, just another step towards the brink - a mad dog in the making for sure, he needs his wings clipped and it just might happen very soon unfortunately

Putin isn't butting his nose in at all, he's been invited by Greece to promote business between

two countries who are being suppressed by sanctions from the EU & US.

Makes perfect sense to me for them to help each other under the circumstances they find themselves in.

As for having his wings clipped? i don't think so somehow.

[Thaiwine]

I don't see how Greece can negotiate anything, surely thats the job of the EU masters.

And it's Nato/EU being pushy that should back off before they start something, or maybe thats the plan?

[up2u2]

Smart move by Putin.

[smedly]

EU sanctions not being in every member's best interests, is just another example of how the EU is flawed. The rich EU countries get richer and the poor get poorer.

Putin can have greece provided he gets his cheque book out and pays their debt off completely

Greece would soon learn what it is to be poor, stupid people

[smedly]

I don't see how Greece can negotiate anything, surely thats the job of the EU masters.

And it's Nato/EU being pushy that should back off before they start something, or maybe thats the plan?

you are entiirely correct and he fact that greece welcomes the visit tells us exactly what will happen to the billions they owe to the various bailout entities, Greece thinks this is rather cleaver but the relality is far from it

[smedly]

Smart move by Putin.

rather dangerous if you ask me

[coma]

Smart move by Putin.

rather dangerous if you ask me

Mr Putin is a dangerous man. But somehow in some strange way, he has an ability to level out the playing field on the global political stage.

[sotsira]

I don't see how Greece can negotiate anything, surely thats the job of the EU masters.

And it's Nato/EU being pushy that should back off before they start something, or maybe thats the plan?

you are entiirely correct and he fact that greece welcomes the visit tells us exactly what will happen to the billions they owe to the various bailout entities, Greece thinks this is rather cleaver but the relality is far from it

Not entirely correct actually,their are some deals that can, and some that can't that fall under EU legislation.

Tourism for example, is 500% up for Russians visiting Greece compared to last year.

You have to also understand that both countries have always had good relations mainly due to the

fact that they both share the same Christian Orthodox religion.

Their relationship has also probably strengthened over the last several months due to the rows between Turkey & Russia over the military plane shot down. Greece will always befriend anyone who is anti Turkish especially a country the size of Russia.

[oxo1947]

I know it's off topic smedly-----but do you happen to have the George cross........I'm just curious about these things......its OK if you haven't....I don't have a bowler hat.

[Srikcir]

I don't see how Greece can negotiate anything, surely thats the job of the EU masters.

And it's Nato/EU being pushy that should back off before they start something, or maybe thats the plan?

you are entiirely correct and he fact that greece welcomes the visit tells us exactly what will happen to the billions they owe to the various bailout entities, Greece thinks this is rather cleaver but the relality is far from it

Not entirely correct actually,their are some deals that can, and some that can't that fall under EU legislation.

Tourism for example, is 500% up for Russians visiting Greece compared to last year.

You have to also understand that both countries have always had good relations mainly due to the

fact that they both share the same Christian Orthodox religion.

Their relationship has also probably strengthened over the last several months due to the rows between Turkey & Russia over the military plane shot down. Greece will always befriend anyone who is anti Turkish especially a country the size of Russia.

I don't understand the relevance of the Turkey shoot down of a Russian warplane to relations between Trukey and Greece.

In June 2015 Turkey said it was "ready to help" Greece out of its escalating financial crisis as Greece edged closer to default with the EU. According to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, "We are ready to help Greece survive its economic crisis with cooperation in tourism, energy, trade .... We want Greece to be strong.... Therefore Turkey will be positive toward any proposal for cooperation" That sounds fairly friendly to me.

Greece never made a bailout proposal to Turkey and Turkey ceased its offer of financial assistance. Perhaps Greece thought it could get debt forgiveness from the EU that would be better than new debt terms with Turkey.

[Thaiwine]

I'm not sure but maybe there's still some animosity over Turkeys invasion of Cyprus, so it's a question of your enemy is my enemy lets be friends.

[smedly]

Putin is poking his nose into the affairs of a volotile EU nation, it is provokative to say the least, I thought for a while that GW bush would start the next world war - I was wrong, but Putin is the scariest of them all, I believe he will push and push until a lesson needs dealt out at again some stage and it will be a lesson, the russian military over the years paraded their might through the streets in pure tonnage and relised after the first gulf war that it was worthless and what happened next was the USSR imploded, they had been spending huge money on what they thought was military might only to find out that it was in fact just tones of shaped useless expensive scrap that could never ever reach a battle let alone fire a shot, does Putin really want to test the west ? well he is doing it on a daily basis, but for now it is being laughed off as insignificant which in reality is what it is - he just doesn't realise that which makes him dangerous and rather stupid

[hawker9000]

Two self-inflicted wounds economic powerhouses getting together. Oooooo. Scary stuff, huh?

Greece should know better than to get in bed with Putin, but if not, then out of the frying pan and into the fire for the poor Greeks I guess.

As for Russia, dating back to the 1880s, it's really not been that much of a problem - for the rest of the world that is - until the advent of WWII (when Stalin helped Hitler get it started). 'But certainly a non-stop global PIA since then.

[chilli42]

EU sanctions not being in every member's best interests, is just another example of how the EU is flawed. The rich EU countries get richer and the poor get poorer.

Putin can have greece provided he gets his cheque book out and pays their debt off completely

Greece would soon learn what it is to be poor, stupid people

There are more than a few unpleasant stereotypes I might apply to Russians, having lived and worked there, but stupid would never be one of them.

[chilli42]

Two self-inflicted wounds economic powerhouses getting together. Oooooo. Scary stuff, huh?

:cheesy:

Greece should know better than to get in bed with Putin, but if not, then out of the frying pan and into the fire for the poor Greeks I guess.

As for Russia, dating back to the 1880s, it's really not been that much of a problem - for the rest of the world that is - until the advent of WWII (when Stalin helped Hitler get it started). 'But certainly a non-stop global PIA since then.

Perhaps you mean when Russia defeated the German Army in WWII?

[hawker9000]

Two self-inflicted wounds economic powerhouses getting together. Oooooo. Scary stuff, huh?

Greece should know better than to get in bed with Putin, but if not, then out of the frying pan and into the fire for the poor Greeks I guess.

As for Russia, dating back to the 1880s, it's really not been that much of a problem - for the rest of the world that is - until the advent of WWII (when Stalin helped Hitler get it started). 'But certainly a non-stop global PIA since then.

Perhaps you mean when Russia defeated the German Army in WWII?

LOL. Yeah. 'Did that all by themselves, did they?

No, it was with just a wee bit of help... (Without which, there'd be a whole lot more wiener schnitzel being sold on the streets of Moscow today.)

They did so much - and certainly accepted their 30 pieces of silver - to help Herr Hitler make it all possible. 'Only fair they should have helped slay the monster they did so much to help create.

[SheungWan]

Didn't Tsipras fly out to Putin not so long ago on a begging mission during the recent Greek debt crisis? Came back with doodle-squat if I recall.

[A1Str8]

Talk trade and energy? Dont make me laugh. I thought he wanted to talk about the Malaysian flight that evidently disappeared in Russian airspace.

[Linzz]

EU sanctions not being in every member's best interests, is just another example of how the EU is flawed. The rich EU countries get richer and the poor get poorer.

Putin can have greece provided he gets his cheque book out and pays their debt off completely

Greece would soon learn what it is to be poor, stupid people

They already know what it's like to be poor

Edited June 1, 2016 by Linzz

[Linzz]

Smart move by Putin.

rather dangerous if you ask me

Smart of Greece, who wants an alliance most, bails out Greece

[hawker9000]

Smart move by Putin.

rather dangerous if you ask me

Smart of Greece, who wants an alliance most, bails out Greece

Can't imagine what's so "smart" about climbing into bed with Vlad the Impaler. (Unless you think of Faust as a role model...)

[Linzz]

Smart move by Putin.

rather dangerous if you ask me

Smart of Greece, who wants an alliance most, bails out Greece

Can't imagine what's so "smart" about climbing into bed with Vlad the Impaler. (Unless you think of Faust as a role model...)

Have they climbed into bed yet? Politics is a game of manipulation i.e. playing off one against another. The EU don't want Putin in their orbit, but Greece needs a bail out and is being screwed.

"Over the past year the Greek leadership has criticized the EU's anti-Russian sanctions, but has never used its right to veto their extension. According to some analysts, Athens is playing the Russian card to persuade Brussels and international lenders towards a softer position on its €320 billion debt."

https://www.rt.com/business/344569-putin-greece-visit-economy/

It is within Greece's power to veto the sanctions. As I said, Smart